to cut things short... if you want to be a stylist (and ACTUAL fashion stylist) either you know a lot of people (personally) or assist a working stylist...

and to be honest freelance stylist are best to assist as most in-house stylist are just doing their paid job... and freelancer (like myself) will possibly pass on jobs to assistants and by working for a specific person you learn so much more!!! i have started to pass jobs to my assistants (paid and non-paid)...

__________________it's not about who you are, it's about what you wear.
London based menswear and women's wear fashion stylist www.sylvester-u.com

I'm italian and I've been working as a Stylist in Spain for already one year and a half...I'm very happy, cause I always get good comments about what I do...but it's sooooo hard to start to get paid decently.
Is it just a spanish thing, or it happens everywhere? As we are in the middle of a tough crisis, agencies pay almost nothing for tests, magazine don't pay for the editorials....I'm in love with my job and I can really eel in my heart that it is what i have to do in my life...But it's so stressfull.
I'm thinking about changing country, continent...and I would like to know how are things going elsewhere....to have an idea about where to go and where not to go!!!
So I would really appreciate to know from people on here if things are so messy just here in spain...or if it's everywhere!!
I hope my english is not too bad.
Thanks,

It's happening everywhere. We (the whole world) is pretty much in a major economic recession.

Here, in Los Angeles, many of my regular clients (most of them are just small companies who sell other lines of clothing or who design their own and sell them) have either gone out of business, have cut back their photoshoots from about 4 times a year to once a year, or have quit doing thier own photoshoots and are relying on the original designers' shots to save money. In addition, a lot of them think that stylists are expendable ... they think that they can style the shoots themselves. Some of them are even doing the photgraphy themselves. So ... business is way down.

Everyone is hurting. The only good thing is that many or your competitors will go out of business (sad, but true) during this difficult time. Then, when the economy finally turns around, if you have been able to stick it out and have continued to actively market yourself to all your past, present and future clients, they know that you are still here and they will call you first.

BTW ... even when the economy was good, it was a stuggle for most stylists ... just part of the challenge.

I'd never made money before a few weeks ago and even then I only made $40 after creatively directing an entire lookbook.. :/ it was alot of hassle.

Anyway, I think that your location is going to have some bearing on how much money you make, like I don't think that I'll be able to make a career out of styling strictly in my state as people don't realize the importance of a stylist but I think like Bette pointed out, everyone is suffering a bit. To me it just means to hit the pavement harder and do alot of tests, oh and make relationships with the closet designers

Guys, I was reading this thread and I found out that a lot of you guys have been working as stylists for a long time so I think this is the right place to ask.

In august I'm going to start my Fashion college and I have a lot of friends that work in the fashion business and I'm very confused, some of my friends say that the best field to work in fashion is inside the brands, not really styling or designing, but working in the administration part of them, they say is a more safe job (money wise). The other part agree that is a more safe job, but they also think if you get lucky styling or designing you'll have a much more fun job and the money will be even better.
So as I said before in a few months I'm going to start Fashion college and I wasn't really worried about money or anything, I was just thinking about the art of creating fashion and how fun would it be to have contact with the thing that I most love in my life for the rest of my days, but my mother and father started to ask questions about how much money could I make working with Fashion and I decided to ask my friends and now I'm very confused.
What do you guy think?!

I agreee .... having a real job (AKA working for a company) as opposed to working freelance, will support you, but you may not ever climb to the top. But you could. At least, you have a job and know where your next paycheck is coming from.

Freelance stylists don't have the luxury. They have to scramble of every gig, which lasts a few days then they must find the next job. And you have even less chance of making it to being a highly paid stylist. It's very risky and most fail ... period.

You have to have a lot more than talent to make it as a freelance stylist. You have to have drive, by totally unafraid or putting yourself out there where you will hear mor no's than yes's, have lot's of business savy, handle all your own taxes, etc., have the ability to market and advertise your services and to sustain it for years, be able to keep precise and detailed records, work ruthlessly long hours (like 18 hours a day) sometime for days or weeks on end, and work well as both a leader, a follower (giving up your vision) or as a team member, depending on each gig. I would say it's about 80% strong business skills and 20% talent and skill.

Styling is not really creating ... but it is creative ... when you are allowed to have your own vision. But most of the time ... it's listening to and interpreting your client's vision, not yours. So good people skills are very important. If you can't work under pressure from a client who wants you to do it their way and has you change most of what you wanted to do, then you might have the temperment to be a stylist.

An alternative would be to assist a fashion editor at a fashion magazine, and hopefully getting promoted within that stucture. A real job ... but still working with styling. More about that in the thread about Working for a Fashion Magazine.

BTW ... most stylists and fashion editors did not go to fashion school ... if you read back in the first thread, you'll see that it's more about being able to connect with the right people and just being in the right place at the right time ... and having the stylist's "eye" and the abitly to get things done.

Aa far as how much money you would make ... there is no one answer. Just like a fashion designer ... a stylist could loose money (cost of starting up a business and maintaining advertising and marketing) to making what Rachel Zoe makes (I've heard it's $6,000 a day for her celebs). The average rate ... depending on what you are able to negotiate (yes, you negotiate for every paycheck), is about $600 to $800 a day for good paying jobs from known companies after you are considered a full professional stylist, $100 to $150 a day for assistants. But you don't work every day ... so you have to factor that in.

BTW ... Rachel Zoe didn't study fashion either ... she was a rich kid who had connections with celebs and had some talent and lot's of drive to back it up.

Yeah bottom line in my opinion about schooling for a stylist... unless you're going to a school with an alumni pool who could utilize your styling skills... or who know those who can... I'd forgo school. I was forced to attend school and so the school I started at was chosen because of it's alumni pool with deep pockets. Most students are legacies, not there on financial aid and it's about 50-60 thousand a year... sooo yeah

I really don't care about the money you know, I just want to have some so I can eat and buy Vogue
But I totally get what you said BetteT, if you wanna take the risks you should deal with the consequences.

I already read in the other thread that most stylists are not graduated in fashion, but most of my friends got their first [good] job because some of the designers children studied in the same class and they started a friendship and in the end they were working together in the company of the parents of their classmates, so I hope brazilian designers send a lot of their children to college this year
And what do you guys think about internship?

I have a degree in Fashion Design and I did a specialization course in fashion styling. I can say that all the things that matters...aren't really explained at school. You just learn them while working.
The most important thing is the networking. If you start to do things(shootings, tests etc), you'll start knowing people..that will present you to other people, that you'll present to other people...and so son.
Than, once you're inside the fashion world...you have to start to "fight".
It's not easy, it's not as glamorous as u can see in the movies, it's stressfull, you'll meet tons of ****ty people and it will cost you years to start earing money....but if you can stand all those thingss...at the end you'll get it!
I actually think you're in the right place at the right time. Brazil is getting very important in the fashion world and for what i've heard..there's lots of work there. Going to work to sao Paulo is one of my biggest dreams (after being an important stylist in london and being as good as Nicola Formichetti is )!!
The Olimpic games are not so far...and a lot of money is getting ivested on the brasilian fashion.
So if you have friends that already are working in this world and you know how u might move...don't waste your time!

P.S. I'm pretty sure that working in the administration part of fashion would make you earn more money than being a stylist (at least in the beginning)...but....it's not creative at all!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by xPedro

Guys, I was reading this thread and I found out that a lot of you guys have been working as stylists for a long time so I think this is the right place to ask.

In august I'm going to start my Fashion college and I have a lot of friends that work in the fashion business and I'm very confused, some of my friends say that the best field to work in fashion is inside the brands, not really styling or designing, but working in the administration part of them, they say is a more safe job (money wise). The other part agree that is a more safe job, but they also think if you get lucky styling or designing you'll have a much more fun job and the money will be even better.
So as I said before in a few months I'm going to start Fashion college and I wasn't really worried about money or anything, I was just thinking about the art of creating fashion and how fun would it be to have contact with the thing that I most love in my life for the rest of my days, but my mother and father started to ask questions about how much money could I make working with Fashion and I decided to ask my friends and now I'm very confused.
What do you guy think?!

I'd never made money before a few weeks ago and even then I only made $40 after creatively directing an entire lookbook.. :/ it was alot of hassle.

Anyway, I think that your location is going to have some bearing on how much money you make, like I don't think that I'll be able to make a career out of styling strictly in my state as people don't realize the importance of a stylist but I think like Bette pointed out, everyone is suffering a bit. To me it just means to hit the pavement harder and do alot of tests, oh and make relationships with the closet designers